Rupert Giles
Rupert (Ripper) Edmund Giles was the old librarian at Sunnydale High and the watcher in the Scoobie Gang. He was a watcher to Buffy Summers and also her father figure. Born into the Watchers council, he rebelled, he wanted to do something else with his life and he became a magician, however came back to the Watcher line. Not wanting Buffy to get killed, Giles warned her about something and got dismissed from the council; his bond with Buffy was too high. Rupert is someone Buffy looks up to and goes to him for advice, even when she isn’t supposed to. After he was fired by the council, he still remained a member of the Scoobie gang for more years trying to find a job after his sacking. He left Sunnydale for England in 2001, realising that this would help Buffy discover her responsibilities as The Slayer. He came back to Sunnydale to try and stop Dark Willow from destroying the world, and he nearly died in the process. When she stopped, Giles took her back to England for rehabilitation. As the First Evil reached Sunnydale, in England it destroyed the Watchers council. After that had happened, Giles collected several potential Slayers ready for the oncoming battle that they all faced. Buffy and Giles came into conflict when it came to Spike, Giles thought that he was dangerous but Buffy protested. When Buffy was kicked out of her house, Giles was with everyone else, however when she came up with the excellent plan to beat the first, he was her ally. Thought his life, Giles had few relationships, his main being Jennifer Calendar, an IT teacher at Sunnydale High. He found out later that she was a Techno pagan. They had a slow relationship, but as Jenny’s secret was revealed they had to pick up the pieces of their love and put them right again. Whilst this was happening, Jenny was murdered by Angelus, which Giles got in such a rage about, he nearly killed himself. Early Life Rupert Edmund Giles (born 1954) was an upper-class boy in London. His family were all in the Watcher’s Council, but he rebelled and said he didn’t want to do it. He said he wanted to be a fighter pilot or a greengrocer. Giles’ father explained his duty to him when he was only 10 years old In 1972, Giles went on watcher training. He went to Highgate Cemetery with four other watchers-in-training to fight the “Highgate Vampire” however the watcher’s recourses were faulty because it was a Lorophage demon which drives humans insane and kills them. The Lorophage demon killed the other four watchers in training and began to kill Rupert until his father and other watchers came to save him just in time. This is when Giles lost his innocence and started to rebel against the fact that he absolutely had to become a watcher, he couldn’t live his life how he wanted to live it. Three years later, Rupert was a rebellious teenager, refusing his responsibility as a watcher and dropping out of school. He turned to dark magics and made friends with a group of people that were interested in the black arts: Ethan Rayne, Dierdre Page, Philip Henry, Thomas Sutcliffe and Randall. They summoned a demon called Eyghon which would put all their lives in danger when they were older. That is how Rupert Giles gained the nickname Ripper, because he felt that Rupert was too posh. They made the mark of Eyghon tattooed on his arm to show that he had summoned the demon. School Librarian On the request of the Watcher’s council, Giles travels to Sunnydale, USA to be the Slayer (Buffy Summers) new watcher. He disguises himself as the school librarian to meet Buffy at the school, where she would be most of the day. The library, as he didn’t know then, would soon be discovered to be the center of the Hellmouth. He is the father figure for Buffy as her mum and dad split up when she was young. He is also an advisor to Xander and Willow who know about Buffy’s secret identity. He begins his relationship with Jenny Calendar and develops a mild friendship with Angel. When the Hellmouth is due to open Giles gets the Codex from Angel and it knows that Buffy is going to die. Buffy overhears and tries to quit her slayer duties but she can’t. She complains about Giles not doing anything so he decides to go down himself. Buffy comes to her senses and knocks Giles out and goes down there herself. The Hellmouth opens underneath Giles and the others but they are saved by Buffy eventually killing the Master. When Buffy returns from her holidays, the pressure Giles is putting on her makes her deliberately disobey him and go to a party which only leads to trouble when they get sacrificed to the demon Machida. After Willow yells at him, Giles stops pushing Buffy so very hard and starts working with her instead of assessing her. Then comes the point when Ehygon returns and Giles has to shamefully admit to Buffy about his dark past. Angel had now lost his soul and turned into Angelus and killed Giles’ girlfriend Jenny Calendar so Giles seeks revenge by burning down his lair. Later Angel tortures Giles into revealing the secret to end the world, resulting in Buffy having to kill Angelus, leaving Sunnydale in depression. Giles spent all of him summer looking for Buffy, and is very happy when she turns up quite a while later. Giles briefly becomes watcher to Faith but then someone else took over. The rest of the Scoobies were highly disturbed when they found out more about Giles’ past when he is turned to a teenager again, and has sex with Buffy’s mother. He also stole from a shop and vandalised a police car, and having sex on the police car... twice! After a severe telling off by Buffy he gets back to business and fights along with Buffy once more. Giles feels betrayed when he finds out about Angel’s status (he is alive again) for two reasons: Buffy kept it a secret from him and she is having a relationship with the monster that killed Jenny. There is a brutal tradition in the Slayers Council, the slayer has to fight off a vampire without her power or strength... AND the watcher can’t tell you anything about it. As Buffy’s comes up, Giles feels really guilty about betraying Buffy, and watching her go through this confusion. Giles finally gives in and tells Buffy about the test. Buffy was wounded and heartbroken that Giles didn’t tell her about it. It was a betrayal in his part. By telling Buffy about it, Giles is immediately sacked from the Watchers Council. Buffy gets a new watcher called Wesley Wyndam-Price. Giles continues to act as Buffy’s unofficial Watcher as she doesn’t trust Wesley.